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Double amputee Jason Koger demonstrated the i-limb ultra revolution prosthetic hand in Philadelphia last week, using an iPhone app to choose from 24 grip patterns. Previously, Koger, who lost his hands in a 2008 accident, required a visit to a prosthetist to program his artificial hand. The i-limb enables independent movement of the fingers and thumbs, says Ryan Spill, Koger's prosthetist who works with Advanced Arm Dynamics in Philadelphia.

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Engineers last week explained how the Internet of Things can make cities healthier through an Underworlds project at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology. In one experiment, researchers at MIT's Senseable City Lab tested sewage samples for signs of pathogens by lowering an iPhone-controlled robot in roughly 10 locations.

Kentucky native Jason Koger, who suffered below-elbow amputations after coming into contact with live wires, was fitted with Touch Bionics' i-limb quantum prosthetic arms at the International Society of Prosthetics and Orthotics conference in France. Koger controls the devices using muscles in his forearms and can make 36 different hand gestures. An application allows him to select hand grips and transmit data to his Texas-based physician.

PowerUp Toys launched a Kickstarter campaign to raise the funds necessary to produce a tiny motor that attaches to a paper airplane, which allows it to be controlled by an iPhone. The company was aiming to raise $50,000, but has already raised over $1 million, said the inventor of the device, Shai Goitein, a former pilot.

Double arm amputee Jason Koger traveled to Advanced Arm Dynamics in Cleveland to demonstrate the i-limb ultra revolution prosthesis to Holly Maxwell, who lost her left arm when she was 10. Koger uses a smartphone application to program the hand, which offers 24 grip patterns and customizable options. Being able to adjust the grip at home is a valuable feature, said prosthetist Brian Waryck, clinical manager of the facility. "[T]here are differences in the home environment that we just can't duplicate here, and that can affect how this works."

The Modular Prosthetic Limb, developed by researchers at Johns Hopkins University, includes 100 sensors, 26 joints, 17 motors and a tiny computer and is controlled by the brain. By thinking about a movement, amputee Johnny Matheney triggers electrical impulses in his residual limb that cause the prosthetic arm and hand to respond. "You don't even really think about it," he said. "You're extending the arm, talking and doing other things -- it just automatically does it."